IntroductionUntil it's publication in 2011, very little was known about this film
by Henry Chapier. It turns out to be an incomprehensible love story, set to the
cityscapes of Venice. What was longtime suspected but unverifyable by the
unavailability of the film, indeed Vangelis provided an original score to this
movie.

"Amore" played in French cinemas
for a short while, and afterwards was swiftly forgotten. Until 2011 when French
French website Ina.fr published the movie after
almost 40 years since its original release!

Unexpectedly an official soundtrack album followed in 2015 on
LP, which despite in mono is to date no doubt the best possible way to hear Vangelis' original score
for this movie!

"This film examines the problem of rescuing Venice. But is neither a documentary
on art, nor a television special like S.O.S. Venice. A Young reporter goes to
Venice, considering he is there on a 'special assignment'. Between him and the
city there is no warmth, no affinity. Like a surgeon naively engrossed in his
operation, Alquier examines the city's wounds, photographing them and imagining
ways to heal them.

Paolo, his Italian collaborator, tries to show him the unusual side of
Venice, rather than the postcard, folk tenor version. Alquier visits the
dilapidated palaces and the teeming slums and sees people's faces loom into
view, but a myth can not be easily erased.

While strolling alone through the city Alquier thinks he sees a face in the
stone... The age-old 'love at first sight' takes a different turn. What follows
is not a romantic, nor even a realistic, love story. Right away, he films the
girl, Marina, in his fantasy. We never find out if the girl has a real
flesh-and-blood, everyday existence, or if she merely represents Venice in
Alquier's mind.

Alquier pursues his assignment, but it becomes more sensitive, peotic, more
human. What was documentary description becomes a genuine encounter. Marina
triggers a daydream in Alquier's mind and begins to have an existence of her own
in which the other character, Paolo, plays an important part; he is refractory, rebellious and scoffs at the system, declaring that Venice and the rescue
project are nothing more but a farce, a cultural alibi to soothe the conscience
of the western world. He is the negative image of an architect.

Rescuing Venice is like winning a person's affection or encountering love; it
can not be done from the outside. Daniel Alquier's experience serves as an
example and a warning to all who think they can solve major problems with
disembodies formulas and viewpoints lacking faith. As for Venice herself, her
heartbeat is slower as it once was. Are the stones, pollution and the tides
solely to blame? What about the Venetians?